By Pratibedan Baidya

It’s been one year since His Majesty King Gyanendra assumed executive power after sacking the coalition government that had almost 70 percent representation in the dissolved House of Representatives.

His Majesty King Gyanendra

His Majesty King Gyanendra
(File Photo)

King Gyanendra cited ineptness of political leaders, growing corruption and alleged politicisation of bureaucracy as the indicators of the failure of democratically elected governments since 1990. So, during his direct rule over the last year, was he able to deliver?

The first meeting of council of ministers chaired by HM the King himself announced 21-point programme highlighting good governance and improve service delivery, but analysts say all these programmes remain in paper only.

The very first agenda of the 21-point programme was to combat corruption. By overshadowing the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIUAA), King Gyanendra constituted the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) to look into corruption related cases. But critics say the RCCC started its action right from the beginning to exact political revenge rather than work impartially.

The detention of former premier, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and former minister, Prakash Man Singh, on charge of irregularities in the multi-million dollar Melamchi Drinking Water Project smacked of vendetta. So much so that the RCCC—that did not have a single jurist in its panel—refused to entertain the investigation report conducted by the Asian Development Bank saying that it did not find any irregularity while awarding contract in the said project.

The Supreme Court (SC) is examining the legality of the RCCC and is slated to hand out its verdict on Feb. 13. Meanwhile, the Transparency International (TI), an international anti-corruption watchdog, said that corruption has increased significantly in the period of direct rule of the King. It is but natural since there is no system of check and balance –that is ensured in a parliamentary democracy– under the royal regime, say analysts.

The government could not do anything for making the bureaucracy transparent and fair. The nomination of Panchayat-era royalists to the top posts of bureaucracy humiliated the civil servants. During the recent tour of King Gyanendra to the eastern development region, local people complained that corruption had increased following the royal takeover of last year.

According to reports, the government recently decided to provide a financial assistance of Rs 4.5 million to Bharat Keshar Simha, chairman of World Hindu Federation (WHF), a pro-royalist Hindu outfit.

Development works could not take place as major donor agencies stalled their assistance thanks to the unrepresentative nature of the government. The fate of Melamchi Drinking Water Project became uncertain after a major donor to the project, Norway, decided to suspend its assistance.

Former premier Sher Bahadur Deuba

Former premier Sher Bahadur Deuba
(File photo)

Perhaps, the greatest failure was the government’s inability to restore peace in the country. It refused to respond to the four-month-long unilateral ceasefire announced by the Maoists. Instead, it claimed peace had been restored in the county thanks to the royal regime. By attacking police posts at Thankot and Dadhikot police posts in the Kathmandu valley and mounting fierce attacks at Tansen, the district headquarter of Palpa in western Nepal on Tuesday, rebels sent the message that their backbone was still intact despite the claims made by no. 2 in the royal cabinet, Dr. Tulsi Giri.

During his address to the nation on Wednesday, King Gyanendra said Nepal’s foreign policy had restored Nepal’s prestige and credibility in the international arena. But critics say Nepal has been isolated internationally over the last year.

In the domestic front, the King’s reluctance in finding consensus with the legitimate political forces pushed the seven agitating political parties towards working out a broader alliance, which further complicated situation.

Critics say the king reshuffled the cabinet for the third time in a year but failed to do anything concrete for the people or the country. Though the King visited different parts of the country and listened to grievances of the people, implementation of his assurances remains a far cry.

A foreign relations expert, Mohan Prashad Lohani, argued that there were some positive developments over the last year during direct rule of His Majesty the King.

“There were no reports of large scale of corruption in the country and the discipline was maintained in the administrative sector of the country,” said Lohani. “Though the status of service delivery is yet to be improved as was the case immediately after the royal takeover, it is heading in the right direction,” he added.

According to Lohani, seven political parties should have tried to reach into consensus with the King rather than the Maoists in order to restore peace in the country.

He also stated that foreign governments were exerting continuous pressure upon the government due to political instability in the country.

Lohani urged the King to initiate effort for addressing the political stalemate and initiate dialogue with the political parties so as to resolve long-drawn political stalemate in the country and also to ensure success of the King’s roadmap to revive the constitutional process.

One of the most hit sectors after the royal takeover was Nepali media. Nepali media enjoyed unrestricted freedom after the restoration of democracy but the controversial media ordinance, haphazard arrests and detention of journalists for not following the directives of the government and the royal appointed bureaucrats became common phenomena during the period.

Said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of Samaya weekly, “This should be the convincing proof to all mainly His Majesty King Gyanendra that absolute power and suppression of democratic exercise does not provide solutions to country’s major problems like terrorism, fiscal indiscipline, mal-governance and corruption. A broader understanding among major political forces alone will take care of these problems.”

Subodh Raj Pyakurel, chairman of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC)– a leading rights watchdog in the country– said the King’s direct ruled failed in all fronts like politics, economics and human rights, among others. “Human Rights situation of the country is not only worse but it is passing through a very critical situation,” he said, adding, “The country has become a failed state in the classical context.”

When asked about the government’s claim of improvement in the rights situation in the country, Pyakurel said, “ The government is giving fraudulent reports. Reports by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal and other rights bodies present the right situation in the country.”

According to Pyakurel, political parties are gradually getting support from all walks of life as they have expressed commitment not to repeat past mistakes.

Analysts say the peaceful outlet to the present crisis would be to hand over power back to the people’s representatives and accept the place of constitutional monarchy. As the Maoists have agreed to come to the politics of competition, formation of an all party government and holding talks with them would be a major step towards restoring peace in the country.

Unfortunately, no such initiatives are being taken by the people who matter so far.